194 BULLETIN 199, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



Family ANGUIDAE Cope 



Angu[i]dae Gray, Ann. Philos., vol. 26, 1825, p. 201. 



Anguidae Cope, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia, 1864, p. 228. 



Genera. — Eleven, of which nine are restricted to the Americas, 

 one (Anguis) is restricted to the Old World, and one (Ophisaurus) 

 occurs in both hemispheres. Five occur in Mexico.^^ 



Range. — Southern Canada to Argentina, West Indies, Europe, 

 northern Africa, southern Asia. 



KEY TO MEXICAN GENERA OF ANGUIDAE 



1. No lateral fold Celestus (p. 194) 



A lateral fold present 2 



2. Lateral fold weakly developed, containing few or no granules; sides of neck 



with coarse granules; head much widened and depressed; pterygoid teeth 

 absent; minimum scales in a transverse row across neck 4-6; arboreal 



species Abronia (p. 196) 



Lateral fold moderately to well developed, containing a moderate or large 

 granular area; sides of neck with fine granules; head thicker, not depressed; 

 pterygoid teeth various; minimum scales in a transverse row across neck 

 no less, often more numerous ; terrestrial species 3 



3. No anterior internasals, but instead a pair of enlarged supranasals, which 



much resemble internasals; no unpaired median internasals; nasal in contact 



with rostral; pterygoid teeth well developed Elgaria (p. 205) 



Anterior internasals, posterior internasals and supranasals '^ all present; 

 nasal seldom in contact with rostral; pterygoid teeth various 4 



4. One or more median, unpaired postrostrals; frontals in contact with maxilla; 



pterygoid teeth well developed ; tail extremely elongate _ Qerrhonotus (p. 202) 



No postrostrals; frontals separated from maxilla; pterygoid teeth absent 



or vestigial; tail normal Barisia (p. 198) 



Genus CELESTUS Gray 



Celestus Gray, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., vol. 2, 1839, p. 288.»9 



Siderolamprus Cope, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia, 1860, p. 368 (type, S. 

 enneagrammus Cope). 



Genotype. — Celestus striatus Gray. 



Range. — West Indies, Central America, and southern Mexico. 



Species. — About 18, two (possibly three) of which occur in Mexico. 



" Ophisaurus ventralis, cited from Jalapa, Veracraz, as early as 1884 (Yarrow, U. S. Nat. Mus. Bull. 24, 

 1884, p. 46) , and retained in accounts of the species even up to the present time, has never been authoritatively 

 recorded from Mexico and probably does not occur there. It almost certainly does not occur at Jalapa. 

 It is possible that the record arose from a simple misunderstanding of Peale and Green's Scinais ventralis 

 (= Qerrhonotus liocephalus) which occurs in the same general area. Regardless of the nature of the error, 

 we emphatically believe the record is erroneous. 



•' Supranasals ab.sent in Oerrhonotus liocephalus austrinus. which has a postrostral. 



«» Dumi (Notulao Nat., No. 4, 1939, p. 3) expresses the opinion that forms here referred to Celestus, char- 

 acterized by absence of sheaths on the claws, are congeneric with Diploglossut (Wiegmann, Herpetologia 

 Mexicana, 1834, p. 36; type "Sc.fasciatus Qrny" = Diploglossus fasciatus) , which possesses sheaths. 



